Welcome to Knitting Help! Good for you! Knitting is a great hobby and perfect those times when you need to unwind or take a creative break! I had to laugh a bit when I read "knitting as a cheap hobby" though.
I just bought some yarn tonight for socks and it was $35.
BUT, it can be a lot cheaper if you need it to be.
I suspect I know what's going on... see that cross part on the stitch that is on the outside.. if you slip it off the needle it will probably be correct. It's easy especially when you're learning to not fully take the stitch off when you knit. Slip the stitch next to it on to the other needle for a minute and fix the crossed one. Then put the stitch back on the needle and knit on. Let us know if that worked.